If all registered voters in the U.S. took the political compass...

[nclib]

What would the average score be?

[Rob]

Hmm... -1, +2, maybe.

[cwelsch]

The authors of politicalcompass would probably say more like +4 social, +6 economic.  Of course, they think Kerry and Bush are way right, too.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

What would the average score be?

Probably about economic -5 and social -2.

The average person is definitely not a conservative.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Modest lean to the left economically, modest lean to the right socially.

[??????????]

Modest lean to the left economically, modest lean to the right socially.

-1.5/+2

Thats what I'd say.

[Gabu]

What would the average score be?

Probably about economic -5 and social -2.

The average person is definitely not a conservative.

Given exit polls from the 2004 elections and the results of that election, I would say that they're not particularly liberal, either.

Of course, I just realized that I'm responding to someone who probably thinks that Kerry should have won Kentucky, so never mind.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Modest lean to the left economically, modest lean to the right socially.

-1.5/+2

Thats what I'd say.

Probably about that actually

[opebo]

The authors of politicalcompass would probably say more like +4 social, +6 economic.  Of course, they think Kerry and Bush are way right, too.

They are, though Kerry is a moderate center-right while Bush is extreme right-wing.

[Brandon H]

The average person is probably between Bush and Kerry. However, this diagram of last year's candidates does not give me much confidence in the political compass.

If everyone in the whole country took the test, the average should be 0,0.

Kerry is not any type of right. Of course with Bush's spending, one could argue that he isn't on the right either as far as economics go.

[opebo]

The average person is probably between Bush and Kerry. However, this diagram of last year's candidates does not give me much confidence in the political compass.

If everyone in the whole country took the test, the average should be 0,0.

Kerry is not any type of right. Of course with Bush's spending, one could argue that he isn't on the right either as far as economics go.

Kerry is very much on the right side economically.  He fully backs capitalism.  He's also barely left at all socially, being against drug legalization (or for that matter prostitution, though I don't think he has a public position on that one). 

Basically the USA has two right-wing parties - one center-right, and one far-right.  We would have to have a socialist party to have a left-wing.

[A18]

We do have a socialist party. Two of them at times, it seems.

He opposes parental notification, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, and the Partial Birth Abortion Ban. That's as social left as they come.

[opebo]

We do have a socialist party. Two of them at times, it seems.

He opposes parental notification, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, and the Partial Birth Abortion Ban. That's as social left as they come.

Only on that one issue.  On many other social issues the Democrats kowtow to the religious just as badly as the Republicans do.  For example drug or prostitution legalization.

As for socialism - I believe you and I have different definitions in mind.  From dictionary.com:

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Doesn't look like anything advocated by the Democrat or Republican party.

[A18]

Medicare prescription drug coverage, for starters.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

None of you seem to understand what Socialism actually is, so I'd rather you not talk about it.

Use the word "Marxism" instead, because that's what you mean. Do not confuse the two.

[phk]

Well Karl Marx used the words, Communism [Marxism] and Socialism interchangably.

[A18]

Socialism is an economic philosophy advocacting a more 'fair' and 'just' distribution of goods and services. The fact that you don't like the definition everybody uses doesn't interest me.

[opebo]

None of you seem to understand what Socialism actually is, so I'd rather you not talk about it.

Use the word "Marxism" instead, because that's what you mean. Do not confuse the two.

Please contribute your definition!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Well Karl Marx used the words, Communism [Marxism] and Socialism interchangably.

And?
Socialism is far older than Marx. The two are NOT interchangeable.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Please contribute your definition!

To narrow something so complex, old and emotional into a few words is pretty hard.

Eric Arthur Blair ("George Orwell") was one of the most perceptive Socialist writers of the twentieth century and I don't have any problems with any of these definitions (all from two pages towards the end of The Road to Wigan Pier) :

"Socialism means the overthrow of tyranny, at home as well as abroad"

"We have got to fight for justice and liberty, and Socialism dies mean justice and liberty when all the nonsense is stripped off it"

"And what are the essentials of Socialism? What is the mark of a real Socialist? I suggest that the real Socialist is one who wishes - not merely conceives it as desirable, but actively wishes - to see tyranny overthrown"

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Another one from earlier in the book: "justice and common decency"

[A18]

With other people's property.

[Brandon H]

Once you get into socialism, you have several different types of socialism. "Social-Democracy" and "Democratic-Socialism"  which are mixes of socialism and democracy.

The difference between socialism and communism is that in communism there would be no central form of government and society would run itself. In reality, true communism can not exist. Communism also requires the abandonment of Religion. The USSR practiced "Stalinism" rather than Socialism or Communism.

I have read that the Democrats (and Greens) want Social-Democracy while the Republicans want Corporatism. If you want Capitalism (no government involvement), vote Constitution or Libertarian Party (which would explain why Peroutka and Badnarik are far right economically).

[phk]

There's an important distinction between liberal or liberalized socialism and Marxist-Leninist or communist socialism.

State-run education here is liberal socialism. Communist socialism implies a transitional alteration in the relations of production that is not present in the capitalist mode of production (according to the philosophy of dialectical materialism, this is determined by contradictions within the economic infrastructure between relations of production and productive forces).

[opebo]

I am a great fan of Eric Blair, Al, both when I was more right-wing and now.  What a fine writer.  I have always preferred your English writers, particularly from the first half of the twentieth century.

I must say though that the definition is a bit vague.  In your own case do you see the goal as the sort of Keynesian/Social Democrat mixed economy with a basically capitalist marketplace but high taxes to provide a generous safety net and government services?  Or government ownership of the means of production?